2015 Ford F-150 vs. NASA New Horizons Space Probe
If you’re alive and have an Internet connection today (which you do if you’re reading this), you surely know now that the NASA New Horizons space probe launched 9 years ago today just flew by Pluto and is sending back images. This is the first time in a generation that we have images from visiting a new planet. To put some of the science and technology into perspective, we have this handy infographic to help you!
Created by Ford’s Mike Levine based on publicly available information, we now have a point of reference for some of the facts that we hear about the New Horizons probe.
The New Horizons space probe, at launch, weighed in at 1,054 pounds. When properly equipped, the 2015 F-150 can carry a payload of 3,300 pounds, which would be 3 space probes. However, we think you’ll need more than the standard bed extender to get them to fit.
A lot of time manufacturers will tout how many times around the planet Earth their vehicles will wrap based on number of sales. If you lined up the number of F-150s sold in 2014, they’d wrap completely around Pluto’s biggest moon, Charon.
And finally, of course, the New Horizons probe is constructed using aluminum, which is also what the 2015 F-150’s body is constructed of.
New Horizons is an engineering achievement we should all be proud of. Nine years ago we launched a probe into space to fly by a small speck in the sky. Now, at over 4.5 light hours away, we’re receiving data back at speeds comparable to dial up Internet in the early 90s… from Pluto!
What do you think? Let us know over in the forums!
via [Mike Levine]
